Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 08.djvu/83

 , Fulke FitzWarine (Rot. Claus. John).

 BUTLER, THOMAS, LL.D. (fl. 1570), catholic writer, graduated B.A. at Cambridge in 1548, and, afterwards going abroad, took in some foreign university the degree of doctor of the canon and civil laws. He is the author of ‘A Treatise of the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar called the Masse: In which by the Word of God, and testimonies of the apostles and primitive church, it is proved that our Saviour Jesus Christ did institute the Masse, and the apostles did celebrate the same. Translated out of Italian into English.’ Antwerp, 1570, 8vo.

 BUTLER, THOMAS, tenth (1532–1614), born in 1532, was son and heir of James Butler, ninth earl, who died of poison at Ely House, London, 28 Oct. 1546. His mother was Lady Joan Fitzgerald, heiress of James, eleventh earl of Desmond. His grandfather was, eighth earl of Ormonde [q. v.]. Thomas, who was called, from his dark complexion, the ‘Black Earl,’ succeeded his father in the earldom and estates at the age of fourteen. He was brought up at the English court with a view to alienating his sympathies from Ireland, and was the first of his family to adopt protestantism. He was knighted on Edward VI's accession in 1547. After Edward's death in 1553, the priests spread a false report that the young earl had been murdered in England, and the Irish on his estates, which were then managed by English officials, rose in revolt. In 1554 Ormonde set foot in Ireland amid great rejoicings on the part of the native population, and from the first attempted to act as mediator between the native Irish and their English rulers. He entered into friendly relations with Sussex, the lord deputy; in 1559 took the oath as privy councillor, and became lord treasurer of Ireland until death; but his action was unhappily fettered. The house of Desmond was the hereditary and implacable foe of the house of Ormonde, and neither the present earl's relationship (through his mother) with the then Earl of Desmond nor his conciliatory disposition could remove the ancient grudge. A quarrel respecting the ownership of the manors of Clonmel, Kilsheelan, and Kilfeacle was made in 1560 the pretext for a military demonstration, near Tipperary, of the retainers of the two houses. This happily proved abortive, and the English government tried to bring the rivalry to an end by a judicial award of the disputed territory in this case to the Earl of Desmond, but a permanent settlement was out of the question.

Ormonde, though openly avowing strong Irish sympathies, resolved to throw the weight of his influence on the side of law and order. In 1561 he sought, by means of his personal influence, to extract from Shan O'Neill, the virtually independent ruler of Ulster, an acknowledgment of the supremacy of the English crown and a promise to abstain from further aggression on other Ulster chieftains. O'Neill treated Ormonde with consideration, and agreed to visit England in his company in order to come to some settlement with Queen Elizabeth herself. In the result he was willing to submit all his differences to a board of arbitration, at which he desired Ormonde to take a seat. But when in 1562 O'Neill broke his vague promises and re-opened attack on the MacDonnells, his chief rivals in Ulster, it was with great reluctance (6 April 1563) that Ormonde, fearful of offending Irish feeling, aided Sussex in repressing the powerful chieftain. Meanwhile his quarrel with Desmond grew fiercer, and Munster, where the chief estates of either house lay, was in constant turmoil. Both leaders were summoned to London at the close of 1561, but little came of their interview with Elizabeth. Ormonde tried hard for a while to keep the peace in the face of Desmond's continued aggressions. Late in 1563 Ormonde complained to Sussex that Desmond was repeatedly attacking his relatives and tenants, and that it was only just that he should retaliate. On 1 July 1564 Ormonde issued a notable proclamation forbidding, in the interest of his poorer dependents, the exaction of the ancient Irish customs within his dominions, and he was